WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 24 of Jujutsu Kaisen, "Accomplices," now streaming on Crunchyroll, AnimeLab, Wakanim, and HBO Max.
Episode Four of Jujutsu Kaisen offered shonen fans a familiar scene: A laid-back, silver-haired and masked Mentor Figure gives his brash, spiky-haired Protagonist-in-Training a complex lesson on how to harness a hidden talent. Predictably, the spiky-haired pupil becomes hopelessly lost. Unpredictably, however, while doing so he moaned, “I wanted to pull off a Spirit Gun, Bankai, or Rasengan, or a Dodon Ray”, listing all the signature attacks from Yuyu Hakusho, Bleach, Naruto, and Dragon Ball.
The moment serves as a lighthearted moment of homage and meta-humor, but this early scene from Jujutsu Kaisen was also significant, as it set up a peculiar bet with its viewers. Specifically, at this moment Gege Akutami explicitly invoked his shonen influences, yet implicitly signaled that Jujutsu Kaisen will not follow their example. While its nuanced approach to its female characters, cynical take on mentorship, as well as a masterful urban horror aesthetic, are all intriguing, it is through its concept of “Cursed Energy” that Jujutsu Kaisen manages to break the mold set by shonen anime's "Big Three."
Cursed Energy Implies a Darker Path to the Shonen Power Creep
The "Jujutsu Sorcerors" of Jujutsu Kaisen draw their power from Cursed Energy. Stress and negative emotions release this Cursed Energy, an effect magnified in dense populations and diasters. As Cursed Energy accumulates, it spawns living Curses which are sentient entities that feed on it and harm humans to continue growing stronger. Any human especially afflicted with Cursed Energy can see Curses, but Jujutsu Sorcerers learn to harness these energies and exorcise these malevolent Curses. This premise mirrors the Soul Reapers of Bleach, but as the first season's shocking finale illustrated, Cursed Energy fundamentally changes its users.
Notably, protagonist Yuji Itadori’s teacher Satoru Gojo likened jujutsu sorcery to the use of electricity, which transmutes an unstable and dangerous element into a useful source of power. Gojo's dry explanations and breezy mannerisms evoke Hatake Kakashi’s lessons from Naruto. Gojo was actually inspired by a different Naruto character, but this scene introduced a recurring pattern in Jujutsu Kaisen: drawing its viewers in with familiar shonen tropes, only to shatter these expectations in spectacular, disturbing fashion.
Unlike say, chakra in Naruto -- an organic, neutral substance -- Gojo’s explanation of Cursed Energy implied a darker path to the typical Shonen Power Creep, in which cultivating negativity brings power. On the surface, Cursed Energy resembles chakra in its ambient availability and usage but Gojo described its potential as “80 percent innate." Yet, in every shonen there are shortcuts: in Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuji emulates Luffy D. Monkey and the Devil Fruit but with disastrous consequences.
Sukuna is Evil On Another Level
Yuji’s impulsive decision to eat the finger of sorcerer-turned-sentient-Curse Ryomen Sukuna emulated One Piece and Naruto, but the bleak world of Jujutsu Kaisen complicated this recognized formula. Instead of offering redemption, it is under the threat of exorcism from the other Jujutsu sorcerors that Yuji must collect Sukuna's remaining cursed fingers, all while the "King of Curses" inches closer to his reincarnation.
Though like Monkey D. Luffy's Devil Fruit, Sukuna’s finger grants Yuji phenomenal power, Sukuna’s presence fundamentally alters Yuji’s psyche, similar to Kurama in Naruto. However, the effect is malign: Sukuna's concentration of Cursed Energy represents an expressly "human" form of evil that is as committed as it is cunning. As the first season revealed, Sukuna’s greatest asset is not his exceptionally powerful jujutsu sorcery, but his dangerous talent for psychological manipulation and patience.
The first season ended on a bleak note as its characters reflect on breaking the ultimate shonen taboo, taking human life. A second season has been teased but not yet formally announced, but the first season's success proved that even amidst such bleakness and darkness Jujutsu Kaisen delivers on what every shonen strives to be: a story of growth, friendship, and perseverance.
